Horrific footage shows aftermath of 'catastrophic' explosion that leveled home with two inside
The Hamburg house blew up on Monday at around 8:45pm - shaking homes that were miles away.
Terrified neighbors dialed 911 and police rushed to the scene, finding the home almost completely decimated and up in flames.
'I would describe it as a catastrophic explosion,' Hamburg police captain John Baker told WGRZ-TV.
Video from just after the jaw-dropping incident shows unrelenting flames swallowing the home.
Debris was scattered all over the ground as more than 20 agencies tried to tame the fire and rescue anyone inside as thick smoke filled the air.
Firemen first discovered John Pease, 78, severely injured and rushed him to the emergency room.
They later uncovered his 78-year-old wife, Joene Pease, dead among the hellish wreckage, according to a statement from the Hamburg Police Department.
'The gas company is there, the electric company is there, it is basically a house that is no longer there,' Baker said Monday night as authorities tried to get the situation under control.
'So it's a dangerous situation, a lot to comb through and deal with.'
A dog was safely recovered from the home and two Hamburg police officers had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and an ankle injury.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
'The investigators are leaving no stone unturned,' Sean Crotty, emergency manager of the Town of Hamburg, told the Democrat & Chronicle.
'We know that the house exploded and they are attempting to determine what the source and the cause and origin of that explosion was.'
On Tuesday, drone video showed what was left of the home littered on the ground with the part of the home next door charred.
The neighboring house had no one home during the fiery boom. But the damage was severe and it had to be demolished.
Shell-shocked residents are still grappling with the calamity that rocked their quiet neighborhood.
'I could hear screaming from my house the whole way down,' Joe Schaus, who lives in the area, told WKBW.
'I was just trying to help, wasn't much to help. The house is gone.'
'I'm watching TV and all of a sudden it was a huge boom,' Lake View resident Chris Polito told WIVB. 'It was instant, it didn't last long or anything.'
'It's awful, you hear that and it's hard to believe that right up the [street] in this neighborhood I walk all the time, that one of those houses is gone,' he added.
'You can see there's a lot of damage,' Alie Lavontuie said. 'My heart goes out to the families and everybody who knew them.'
Those who knew the couple described the Peases as quiet and kind people who kept to themselves.
'The people who lived in the house most impacted are a kind couple and very good, considerate neighbors,' someone who knew the couple, who opted for anonymity, told WKBW.
They were active members of the Lake View Community Church, WKBW reported. Joene had even served on its board of trustees for some time.
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